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March 23, 2010
Paper trail shows a lack of LIRR openness on bollards
The Brooklyn Paper
by Stephen Brown
Newly obtained blueprints reveal that city officials were considering building the tomb-like bollards at the Long Island Railroad terminal at Atlantic Avenue and Hanson Place in 2005 — though at least two renderings were subsequently released to the public without those drastic security measures.
The documents, obtained under the Freedom of Information Law, show that the architectural firm on the project, John di Domenico and Partners, along with the Long Island Rail Road, were exchanging plans for the large security barriers and stone benches in May, 2005 — almost five years before those much-criticized barricades would be unveiled to the public.
Renderings of the Barclays Center variously indicate small bollards or a complete absence of bollards — and the NYPD told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 2007 that they didn't "foresee any street or land closures, sidewalk widening around the arena or the instillation of bollards."
But the blueprints also contradict a statement made by LIRR President Helena Williams to a Brooklyn Paper reporter on the day of the terminal’s opening this year, when she said that the bollards were not part of the design when construction began in earnest in 2005.
One rendering, which first surfaced in 2008 — though sources say it predates the summer of 2006 — depicts a gorgeous LIRR terminal without any bollards at all.
Another, released in 2007, depicts an entrance ringed by knee-high benches.
The reality at the entrance is quite different: The actual bollards are 50 to 52- inches high, and in some places, a mere 36-inches apart. They are massive and resemble ancient Egyptian sarcophagi.
...The security measures — as well as the lack of clarity about how the measurements of the bollards were determined — have raised concerns that the nearby Barclays Center will also be ringed by mega-bollards without any public input.
Related coverage...
The Brooklyn Paper, Int’l terror expert speaks: LIRR bollards are ‘overkill’ and ‘ugly’
A counter-terrorism expert who has instructed police officers and the U.S. military on security tactics has joined the chorus of critics complaining that the mega-bollards in front of the new Long Island Rail Road terminal are “overkill,” and “excessive and ugly.”
Lionel Rawlins, a former Marine and criminology professor, took a moment from his consulting duties in Afghanistan to give The Brooklyn Paper his opinion on the tomb-like bollards at the new station at Hanson Place and Flatbush Avenue.
“I have been in counter-terrorism for a long time and have never seen such monstrosity — anywhere,” he said.
Posted by eric at March 23, 2010 9:42 AM